Of his work, Dominik cites Antonio de Torres as his greatest influence and the first guitars he built for us were built on the basic Torres plan - seven fan struts in a domed top and a tunneled lower cross bar (below the soundhole) where the two outer struts run through. Other early influences included Daniel Friederich and Antonio Marin Montero. In recent years his style has become more personal, as a result of studying the instruments other great makers from the past. Indeed Dominik came to GSI shortly after we acquired the Cleveland collection, so that he could assess and evaluate a large number of fine instruments all at once.
For this particular classical guitar, Dominik has made some adjustments to his earlier design, firstly it has 5 fan braces instead of 7, which he feels helps to produce a darker color in the trebles and lowers the air resonance very close to ''F'' (which is quite low). Low body frequencies like this in general increase the effect of ''wolf notes''. However Dominik has developed a new technique to tune the wolf notes to a specific frequencies in order to minimize or actually completely remove them. He is quite happy with this system as the guitar is indeed quite low with a very rich bottom end and thick, meaty trebles while retaining great balance up and down the registers. Building a low tuned guitar without the side effect of producing wolf notes has been a long quest in the history of guitar making and we're pleased that Dominik's new system handles this challenge beautifully.
The guitar was also built with the sides having three thin layers of wood. The result of this process adds more power to the whole guitar, similar to the widely accepted style of double-sided construction used by many luthiers but with the advantage of less overall weight. He was so impressed with the results from the very first guitar he tried this on, that all subsequent guitars have used this same method. This guitar also features a compensated nut and saddle, giving it excellent intonation, especially in lower registers. It's also fitted with slightly larger frets which improve playability (less distance from string to fret) and really spectacular glissandos.
To us, this guitar has improved responsiveness in all registers and a bigger, more robust sound all around with balance and excellent intonation. As with all his instruments, this guitar plays easy, has immediate attack with a lively, full sound behind it and is just overall a joy to play. The guitar also has plenty of power for the player looking for a strong instrument that will project well in any concert environment. Fantastic instrument in every regard.
